After the joint training, everyone's progress finally seemed to settle into a steady rhythm.
There was no new theory to learn for now, but the number of runes they had to combine increased each day, about ten more than the day before. On top of that, Rita was now forced to sit through detailed personal histories from her four classmates.
She could not stop them. It was obvious they did not only want her conclusions. They wanted to hear one another's as well.
When it came to power, boundaries blurred. As long as nothing truly confidential was involved, they shared freely. Big things, small things, everything was laid out in the open. Nivalis and B80 had practically moved to the classroom doorway, afraid of missing any gossip. Foolishness, on the other hand, arrived and left precisely on time each day, though she had been reading the same book for several days straight.
That afternoon, after Kessa finished recounting how she left "Midsummer," the room fell quiet for a long moment.
